As most ships do when going towards the south, the Zuiderdam sailed and kept the Balearic Islands on its port side and then came around the south west side of the island and approached the pilot station from there. With “another day in Paradise” on the cards, the ship docked at one of the cruise and ferry piers. This one called Estacio Maritima nbr 1. With us in port were two cruise ships from Aida. The Aida Vita and the Aida Diva. They are also part of the Carnival Corporation but are solely dedicated to the German market. Their product is more resort type; buffets and flip flops and the larger ships have their own brewery on board; which I think is the best cruise ship invention since cash free billing was introduced.  Maybe something for one of our future new builds: “Dam –beer” Dutch Craftsmanship and Mastership on the high seas.

Today my day was filled with various projects. First there was the General Emergency Drill for 25% of all the Boats and Rafts, then there was the fire drill for tomorrow to plan and then there was the review of the Mustering procedures on board.

Although the SOLAS rules came into being in 1914 as a result of the sinking of the Titanic, these rules have not remained as is, but evolved with whatever lessons were learned at sea or whatever new idea of ship design was and is dreamt up by the cruise companies. Designers are normally thinking outside the box and sometimes they are that far outside the box that their design would be positively dangerous if not kept in check by some logic rules, like not capsizing and being a safe haven for the occupants while on board. Especially cruise ships are the recipients of constantly updated regulations. This makes sense as with the boom in the cruise business, more and more innovative ships are coming out. Not too long ago it became law that there should be a weekly cycle of at least 25% of the crew going through Emergency Training. Before it was just that everybody should be trained on a regular basis (monthly) to be proficient in their safety jobs. To ensure that this did not result in monthly “mass” trainings to comply, the 25% rule came into being.

Today a very un-romantic photo of the ships C02 room. The C02 is stored in pressured bottles and can be released by means of the cabinets on the left. The size of the Engine Space on fire will dictate the number of bottles needed.

We have similar rules for Fire drills. There should be every week a real drill / simulation of an emergency / and there should be monthly extra training to support the proficiency in these drills. To avoid too much routine in the drills (how many new drill scenarios can you keep thinking of?) I normally offer to bring some new “inspiration” to the proceedings. Tomorrow the plan is to put the whole Engine room on fire (simulated) and then let CO2 in to extinguish it. This means that all the crew has to follow strict protocols as CO2 is deathly as it displaces Oxygen. But as it is not a cooling agent, the temperature of the space that was on fire only goes down very slowly. Until it has cooled down there is always the chance of a fire Reflash if somebody would open a door somewhere and let fresh oxygen in.

Muster procedures is something every crew member has to deal with, signing on for the job on board. I normally check on each ship the completeness of all the paperwork of those officers and crew who can be given the watch on board. Each ship has a minimum number of officers required and that is noted on the Safe Manning Document which each ship receives from its Flag State when coming into service. To be qualified for these functions on board you need an enormous amount of training certificates, endorsements and licenses. (I have about 25 certificates apart from my master License, to qualify to be Master on a Dutch and a Holland America Line vessel). The company ensures that we have all those certificates but because there are soo many and there are soo many regulations the administration on the ship can be incomplete. Not because the Officer in charge is sloppy but because it is so complicated to comply with it all. So on behalf of the Master of the Vessel, I spend a day going through each seaman’s book and verifying each certificate and official document to ensure that every dot and comma is in the right place.

Since Barcelona we have started our southward journey which will lead us eventually back to Florida. Tonight we will continue southwards and tomorrow we will visit Alicante on the south coast on Spain.

Weather, mainly sunny with little wind and temperatures in the around 68oF / 20oC.

At 07.00 this morning the Zuiderdam sailed into the port of Barcelona over a flat calm sea towards the berth at the Barcelona Cruise Terminal. Not a bad way to start the day. Today there were three ships in, the Marina (Oceana Cruises), the Costa Fascinosa (Costa Cruises) and us. The Marina had a full change over today, the Costa was expecting about 50 new guests and we had heavy loading. Very heavy loading; as apart from all the stores and supplies coming on, recyclables going off, we also had fuel bunkering and we were getting all new chairs and foot rests for the balconies.

Starting to unload 2 x 40 ft. containers. This was shortly before the Cabin steward brigade came out to cart it all away.

Changing furniture is always a major upheaval for a cruise ship as we cannot store all those boxes on board and then leisurely unpack them and bring them to the balconies. And then keep the old furniture somewhere until it can be landed. No it has to be done in one day. So the Cabin Stewards were put on alert and first all the old furniture came out, went ashore, and then the new furniture came the other way. Unpacked and then the empty carton boxes went straight to the recycling. Balcony furniture is replaced on a regular basis as the elements play havoc with the rattan. It would not make any difference if we had other material as the combination of salt, sun, rain and cleaning will eventually conquer the sturdiest materials. So by tomorrow all the guests will have nice new chairs and food rests on their balconies again.

Cabin Stewards waiting for new furniture on the Navigation deck.

While we are on the topic of furniture and decoration, the Zuiderdam has a sort of Italian theme throughout its public rooms and staircases. As is known Holland America has a tradition of putting antiques & art on their ships for the guests to enjoy while cruising. Something which really started on a grand scale with the Nieuw Amsterdam of 1983. This ship had as a theme our previous Colonies in the West, New York included. The Noordam of 1984 had the former Colonies in the East and with the S and the R class this continued although not so strictly focused. But Dutch heritage, craftsmanship and artistry continued to be put on display on a grand scale.

The large wall painting opposite the Explorers Lounge. Showing the Grand Canal of Venice.

With the Zuiderdam, the first Vista class, this changed a little bit. The Netherlands did not have sufficient colonies to stretch the theme forever. (Just think what we could have done, if the Dutch had had an empire similar to the British………) Thus the theme of the Zuiderdam went Italian with a few deviations to ensure that the guests were still reminded that they are on a Dutch ship.  The easiest this can be seen is in the Explorer lounge. All the ships that went before had a Dutch nautical scene of some sort on the large wall painting; the Zuiderdam has a city view, still from the water, but of Venice.

The Carnival display opposite the Art Gallery. due to the glass, the photo is less than perfect, but I am also a less than perfect photographer.

Then there are more touches which reminds of Venice. That Venice was taken as the Italian theme made sense as the ship was built there; just to the south of the city in the town of Marghera. Apart from furniture in the staircases and statues in the hall ways, there is the big Venetian Carnival Costume Display just opposite the Art gallery.  As we all know Venice has the most elaborate Carnival of all, with costumes that are both chique, stylish and elaborate. Rio de Janeiro might be the most exotic and have the least clothing on show, but the costumes of the Venice Carnival ensure that you cannot even see who the other person is who you just have been dancing with.

We are staying late here, only sailing at 22.30 this evening as, it is just a short hop to Mallorca. Holland America has a policy to stay, if possible, during each cruise one evening late in one of the ports of call and for this cruise that is Barcelona. You could not ask for a better port.  I do not know if many guests are going ashore tonight, they might all be tired from all the sightseeing, but the crew is certainly going. At least those who can. There was a long row of people outside the crew office this morning, all wanting to cash money, to support the local economy tonight. Plus Europe goes back one hour tonight to get on winter time and that means that if some of the crew come back a little bit too happy tonight, they will have an extra hour to get over it again.

So tomorrow we will be in Mallorca and the weather is holding although with a bit more clouds than today. Temperatures around 67oF / 19oC. and very little wind. That is a lot better than being in Puerto Vallarta where Hurricane Patricia is creating havoc at the moment.

During the night the Mistral in the Rhone area thought the better of it and decided to abate completely so this morning we only had a long running swell left and a flat calm sea. As the Zuiderdam was happily pottering long with a speed of 11 knots it did not even make the ship move.  It was full on the bow and thus it could have created a pitching movement but we hit the waves so gently that there was no wobbling whatsoever.  Also for the remainder of the day it looks like that the wind has gone completely. During the late afternoon and early evening we will sail just south of the Gulf of Lyon and if the Mistral would have been still there, large waves would have coming rolling out of it. But we are lucky today.

I would love to take credit for this photo but the few times I have seen a Fin whale this close, there was no camera handy. (Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Some guests were lucky today as well, as we had a number of Fin whales coming by. The bridge counted 5 or 6 of them but I only saw one and that was much later.  Still seeing a Fin whale in the Mediterranean Sea is not as usual as seeing Humpbacks in Alaska and seeing 5 or 6 together is quite rare.  The navigators and quartermasters easily recognize the various whales as we are all trained in doing so. Holland America stipulates that each person who keeps a look-out on the navigation bridge is proficient in recognizing the various sorts of whales. If we recognize them, then we also know what sort of behavior to expect and that helps to make a more quantified decision in how to avoid them.  Fin whales we can recognize in two ways: looking for the small dorsal fin near is tail or by the exhaust plume (expelled air) which has a very distinctive shape.

In this case the whales happily swam along on either side of the ship and thus no course changes were needed. When we are near whales we are also advised to slow down to 10/11 knots to reduce the chance of a collision even further but as we were already doing that speed, we were in compliance without having to take any action. The whales did not take any action either to make our life difficult and thus everybody was happy.

Although we are sailing between the Island of Corsica and the Italian main island, the sea is still quite deep here, up to 9300 ft. in the North Western part and that would make Corsica a very high hill if we could pump the Mediterranean Sea empty. But the sea is full and Corsica is a big mountain top called an Island, right between Livorno and Barcelona.

Safety Indoctrination by Matt the 2nd officer for the new HAL employees. In the audience, the ships doctor, the piano player, photographer, beautician, sailors and fireman greasers.

One of the things, which I am exposed to every time I change ships is the Shipboard Orientation Program. Everybody has to attend it, from the captain downwards and thus I happily show up each time and watch the proceedings. There are two parts: 1. when coming on board, before you allowed even to start to work you need to get familiarized with the basic safety concepts of the ship and your safety duties while on board. Then there is a second more in depth part on the 2^nd or 3^rd day, depending when is best as long as it is within 72 hours of boarding. Captain and Ships Staff, introduce themselves and speak some wise words, the ships nurse tells us where to find the hospital and how to stay healthy and the Security Officer tells us to be alert and wear our I.D’s at all times. Then there is a session with the Safety and Environmental Health officer, who touches on all the basic concepts we have to follow.     Then the crew who are not new, or have sailed on the same class of ship in the last 3 years are dismissed and can go back to work.

The rest have to stay for a walk about to get some explanation about watertight doors, fire extinguishers, station bills and everything that might just be different from what they were used to before, or what is completely new to them. I normally trundle along with this group as it gives me the chance to observe the quality of training being given by the Training Officer.  He did a very good job and the audience remained alert. Thus all went well today and one hour later the whole group was dismissed.

Tomorrow we are in Barcelona, where we stay until late in the evening. We will not be the only one; The Marina, the Costa Fascinosa and the Berlin are also expected. Weather sunny with temperatures in the mid 60’s or 18 to 19oC. Perfect day for sightseeing.

Well, the predicted windy weather was a bit of an “Italian” storm in a glass of water as it was really pleasant when the sun rose above Livorno.  The good ship Zuiderdam thus happily docked at the regular cruise pier. By 08.05 the ship had been cleared and it emptied out with all of those eager guests desperate to soak up some local culture and history. Many guests had booked the shore excursions which were going beyond Livorno and those tours leave early in the morning and some are not returning until just before this evenings sailing time.

The route of the ms Zuiderdam into Livorno and the 180o turn at the dock. The little hic-cup in the approach was caused by the drifting of the ship as it had to suddenly wait for delayed outbound traffic.

As mentioned before, Livorno is not an easy port to get into and while the ships have increased in size, the port entrance has not and that makes every captain pray for no wind, or no more than a gentle breeze; with the emphasis on gentle. It is a tight turn going behind the breakwater and you cannot do it with too much speed. The slower you go, the more influence the wind has on the ship. With the cruise ships being virtually apartment buildings, the wind has a lot of influence. On top of that the sides are full with balconies and that makes it even worse, as the wind has now three sides “to hold” onto, instead of one flat surface as is the case with a container ship or a car carrier. Full on the beam does not matter that much, it is the same for any ship, but with having a wind under an angle then there are suddenly all those balcony partitions which help to catch the wind. While otherwise the wind would just whistle along the superstructure.

Those early leaving tours cause a bit of a headache for Culinary Operations as it has two immediate effects. One: guests are getting up much earlier than normal; Two: there is an enormous increase in Room Service Orders.  Item one is easily dealt with, the whole kitchen brigade gets up a little bit earlier and the Lido opens at 06.00 instead of 06:30 or 07:00. That might give some unhappy cooks but they are later compensated for the extra hours.  Item two, is a bigger challenge as we only have a finite number of Stewards available to provide Room Service as the regular Dining room is also in full swing at an earlier time. Thus the Culinary Operations Manager had sent out to all the cabins a note, requesting for patience as the delivery times might be not exactly at the exact time as was requested.  When I saw him later in the day, he did not have any black eyes, so I assume all went well.

The shore team paying out the air hose of the diver. With these projects they do not use SCUBA gear.

While the guests were out, the ship was getting a scrub under water. With the Livorno Alto Fondale dock being a safe and quiet dock, Technical Operations grabbed the chance to have the propellers and under water hull scrubbed from the marine growth which had come on during the past European period.  The divers who are doing it are not cheap, but the reduction in fuel consumption is considerable if the hull is clean and I would not be amazed if the total cost of today will already be earned back during the one crossing back to the States in a week’s time.  Although the fuel price has come down considerably since last year we are still talking millions of dollars per ship per year and thus 5% on the total bill has a big impact. Especially if you multiply this amount with 15 ships. Let alone thinking about the over a 100 ships in the Carnival Corp. fleet.  I wonder if the corporation had ever thought about having their own diving teams, or is that too complicated with licensing in the various countries? As part of the safety precautions they have a speaker on full volume so they can gear the diver breathing all the time. Due to the distortion it sounds like a very heavy smoker trying to run up the stairs. But if the breathing would suddenly stop it would indicate directly if something was wrong with the diver, the air hose or both.

The ship will sail, hopefully, by 19.30 hrs. depending on the fact if all the tours are back on schedule. Then we set sail for Barcelona, where we arrive the day after tomorrow. We will sail north of  Corsica through the Ligurian Sea and then angle down towards Barcelona.

The weather forecast looks a bit unsettled and once we are clear of  Corsica we might get a sort of mini-Mistral on the stern with about 30 knots of wind, which will later die down to 10 to 15 knots.  On the stern means following wind and following wind means that the relative wind on the deck should be quite reasonable. Not bad for Mediterranean Sea weather in autumn.

Today I boarded the ms Zuiderdam in Civitavecchia after a stay at the Fumencino airport hotels in Rome after transferring from the ms Rotterdam. I managed to clear away all my outstanding paperwork, work on the blog and squeezed in a visit to Rome as well. The Hilton has a free shuttle bus every day to the city Centre (or at least as far as they can go into it) and I would not be a Dutchman if I had not taken full advantage of it.

Maybe hard to see but nearly everybody in the photo was in the line which curved all the way around St.Peters square to enter via a far right entrance.

It being a weekend and nice weather meant that every tourist in the area was attracted to the St. Peter’s Cathedral as if it were a magnet. By 10 am. the lines for getting in curved all the way around the square into the far side of the Cathedral. I do not know if Bernini foresaw how handy his “curved arm” Colonnades around the main square would be in the 21^st century but it was, as it formed a sort of natural guide and buffer for keeping this long line on track. By 10 am. there was already an average waiting time of approx. 2 hrs. I did not see the Pope but if I had so many people in my front garden, all trying to take selfies, I would hide as well.

The Trevi Fountain. It is under restauration, made possible by a gift from a Fashion house. The city of Rome does not have any money and thus it encourages sponsorship to save it’s historic treasures.

I had never explored Rome properly by foot but even now I did not get much of a chance as there were too many people everywhere and all the special tours were sold out. I wanted to see the catacombs at one particular church (ex Capuchin Monastery) but these tours are limited to 20 people due to climbing through the caves, dungeons and the catacombs itself.  But I did manage to walk from East to West. From the Coliseum via the Forum, past the Trevi fountain and the Parthenon to St.Peters.

Most of the roads are a sort of cobbles or square stones and you need good foot wear. Although I saw several very fashionable Italian Ladies walking over them on high heels. But maybe not for a long distance.

The Panthenon. 2000 years old, built of concrete and still in perfect condition. You wonder why our concrete buildings do not last 2000 years.

After 3.5 hours on the trot it was time to sit for 2 hours on the Big Red Bus. Although I took the blue one (City Tour Rome) as it has more stops.  A disappointing thing was that they only do the central area of Rome, nothing outside. In a lot of other ports they also cover some of the more residential areas and I always find it nice to see how the other half of the world lives.

The HAL class of October 2015. Happy officers from NewZealand, The Netherlands, England and Belgium.

The Rotterdam Nautical Excellence Class was completed after three weeks and now four of the eight new 3^rd Officers have been assigned contracts and the other four will follow in due course. The next class will be held on the Westerdam on 21 November and thus I am doing a ship in between for my other part of the job; On board Team Support Officer.

The Zuiderdam cruise. partly Mediterrannean and partly Trans Atlantic

Between now and mid November I will sail with the Zuiderdam from the Mediterranean to Florida. From there she will start a Caribbean winter season.

As it is “support”; what I will do on board will greatly depend on what works best for the ship and that will be figured out during a meeting between the ships staff and myself.

The Master of the vessel is Capt. Chris Turner who came to us a long time ago from Windstar. He has been designated Master of the Zuiderdam since 2009.

I left the Rotterdam in Civittavecchia to stay in a Rome hotel and thus this morning I had to make the journey the other way again. With the bus driver showing up 45 minutes late it was not the best way to start the day at 06.30 in the morning. For me not so bad but those with long flights behind them could have used the extra hour better than hanging around in the hotel lobby. So I informed our travel department and hopefully they can ring the bell somewhere.

But here we are and work started straight away with nosing around during the Passenger Safety Briefing to see what standard the crew brought on display (= read asking nasty questions) and from there the trainnings and other activities will start from.

After the drill we left as the second of 4 cruise ships; the pecking order was this time: Rhapsody of the Seas, Zuiderdam, Empress and then the Seven Seas Mariner. The port sometimes has 8 cruise ships in at the same time, not counting 5 ferries, so today was a sort of quiet day.

Tomorrow we are in Livorno and it is supposed to be a windy arrival. But the wind is supposed to be from the North East and then we stand a better chance of getting in than the Rotterdam had a few days ago.

Yesterday I mentioned that it would be windy on arrival Livorno and that it was a tight hole to go into. Well it was more than windy; it was stormy, with wind gusts up to 40 knots. Too much wind to sail into that tight hole safely.  The Captain had one good look at the local situation and the decision was simple. This is a no-go. If I do not feel safe, then the ship is not safe. Then the next thought is, what can we do now? Stay a day at sea, go sightseeing, or go to another port? Based on the weather forecast the captain had already been thinking about that of course and scrutinized the chart for options for another port nearby. The wind was from the South West so if there was a port which is sheltered from the South West than you can go there. Livorno is fully open the South West.

Elba is about 2 hours sailing south of Livorno.

Thus the plan was hatched to go to Elba. It is close by, has a natural harbor on the North East side and a mountain ridge to the south so it could be expected that it would be sheltered enough from the SW wind to make the visit there. A quick call to the local authorities and yes we were welcome. The only question that remained was: would the anchorage be sheltered enough from the swells (which can curve around the island into the bay) for a safe tender service? The main town of Portoferraio on the North side of the island only has ferry docks and even if the ferries would not be there the Rotterdam still had to anchor as it draws over 8 meters and the pilot cannot guarantee more than 7,6 meters at the maximum.

The ms Rotterdam has too much draft to anchor in the light blue area’s.

When the Rotterdam poked its nose into the Bay it was clear, a bit of waves but with making a good lee for the tenders when coming alongside the ship, it would be a safe operation. In the town itself, tucked away deep into the Bay, it was flat calm.

The town has city walls and a fort protecting the island from the outside world, but what can you do against an invasion of eager cruisers?

Thus by 10 am. the tender operation went into full swing and the “invasion” began. Because of the change in scheduling everything on board came to a grinding halt and that included the weekly fire drill which had been planned around my trainee’s. They would be fully involved with the drill and attack whatever fire might occur. Now there was a gap in the schedule and that allowed me to finish the class in the morning and let them go ashore in the afternoon. Somehow I have the impression that they did not mind missing the fire drill and go ashore instead. This is their last day of the 3 week course and 4 of them fly out to their assignments and the other four go home to wait for their first assignment to arrive.

The inner harbor of Portoferraio, Elba.

It also gave me the chance to go ashore. I had been here with the Prinsendam in 2010 and although the ship could dock it was not possible because of the ferries. So we had to anchor and thus I stayed on board. Resting on one hook on an open anchorage is something totally different than being securely tied up with lots of lines in the shelter of a port.

If I could afford to maintain it, this would be my yacht.

The tourist season is almost over here so it was quiet in the town and in the bars and restaurants around the fishing harbor (now mainly occupied by yachts); that was until the Rotterdam arrived. and we saw a split in behavior depending on nationality. While the Americans tried to shop and look inside every church and museum, the Dutch parked themselves en-masse on the terraces on the harbor front. I felt as if I was in Holland, Dutch yapping all around. Unfortunately most shops and Musea closed for a 2 to 3 hour siesta and they must have missed out on a lot of money. Two 2^nd hand bookshops were open and although I was impressed with their stock, there was nothing for me, as the two things on offer, where already in my collection and the 3^rd item (genuine ocean pill box) was a fake.

Plenty of Napoleon around, but he was also out for lunch…………….

This it is a very nice place with lots of things to do (between 0900 and 13.00 & 16.00 and 21.00) so hopefully Holland America will call here more often especially with the smaller ships.  Plenty of history, including the 300 day stay of Napoleon, beautiful beaches and beautiful nature. Coming Sunday it will be busy as they will the Moto GP (Motor Cycle Grand Prix) of Elba. A motor home camp had been set up in the port and I saw the teams registering at the local tourist office for the coming event.

Our last tender will be at 6 pm. and as soon as the last guests are back we will sail to the south east heading for Civitavecchia, which acts as the access port to Rome. There my trainees will fly either home or to their first ship and I will transfer to the Zuiderdam. The Zuiderdam arrives in Civitavecchia on the 21^st. so I will wait for the ship. It turned out to be easier than to fly and catch it in one of its small ports along the cruise during the weekend.

Thus my blog might cease for a few days unless I have something exciting to report. (Like meeting the Pope or something). I will use my time in the hotel to catch up with administration and I will also grab the chance to ride every Big Red Sightseeing bus there is in Rome.

The weather for tomorrow; a lot less wind, about 15 knots, partly cloudy and temperatures in the mid 60’s or just under 20oC.

Today we had to anchor as the dock was occupied. The Marina from Oceana Cruises had been assigned the berth, and as there is only one dock we had to go to anchor, and the anchorages off Monte Carlo are not that good. The water is on average very deep and that means you need to put out a lot of chain to get a secure grip on the sea floor. There is only one anchorage that is preferable and that one is located about 3/10^th. of a mile to the North East of the harbor entrance with an average depth of about 40 meters. Thus every large ship wants to be there.

We had one more cruise ship on the arrival list and that was the Costa NeoRiviera which is a ship that belongs to Costa but is operated as a sort of sub cruise company providing a cheaper product. It ships have the prefix Neo in front of their name.  This ship would be gunning for that anchorage spot as well.  To beat them to it, the captain decided to arrive very early in the morning. Then we would have a fair chance to get there first.  By 2 am we had the hook down and we commenced our tender service at about the time the other ship came in before 7 am.  Being closer to the port entrance gave a less wobbly ride as there was a low swell running in from the South East.

Swell is unpleasant in Monte Carlo as it runs ashore and then bounces back into the open sea. Then in the afternoon when all the “boys with toys” come out and start racing around, that creates even more swell. While most of them have the money they do not necessarily have the skills to operate these large power boats in such a way that it does not affect our tenders at the platform. Swell and toys together can cause a very nice wobbly sea. So the nearer you can get to the port entrance the better it is. That proved more than true today, even the short distance the captain managed to arrange by anchoring early, still caused quite a wobbly ride.

The Costa NeoRiviera is quite as interesting ship. It was built for Festival Cruises, which was a company that came out of nowhere with 3 old ships. Then the management found investors and in a fairly rapid tempo several new ships were built and came into service. They were in business between 1992 and 2004 and first had The Azur, The Bolero and The Flamenco. Then a new building process started and the Mistral arrived in 1999 followed by two slightly larger sisters the European Vision and the European Star. In 2004 the company went bankrupt and the ships were sold off. Two went to MSC and one eventually ended up with Costa as the Costa NeoRiviera.

The angle of the sun was wrong so I could not get my own photo. Hence one pulled off the internet. Source unknown.

Costa now has nearly all new built ships and most of them are from the same sort of design and thus look similar. The older units which include the Riviera, the Costa NeoClassica and Costa NeoRomantica have been put under a sort of subsidiary called Neo. The company advises that these ships sail to “unique destinations” and visiting Monte Carlo is part of that. At the same time they still carry the Costa name, so how that works for marketing and to avoid confusion is something I do not know.

We will sail from here at 18.00 hrs. and then head for Livorno which is just on the other side of the Ligurian Sea.  We were there a few days ago, same as here in Monte Carlo, but as this is a new part of the long segmented cruise, we will call at Livorno for a 2^nd time. I do not think that will matter very much for the back to back guests as the Livorno hinter land is too much anyway to see during one call. If the guests caught a glimpse of Florence during last call, they can now get a glimpse of Pisa. I am using the word glimpse, as getting a good impression of Florence will at least take a week.

We are expecting a sunny day in Livorno tomorrow as the last rain clouds are supposed to be gone by 07.00 hrs. Sunny with temperatures around 63oF / 17oC. But it is also forecast to be windy and wind is not nice for Livorno as it is a very tight hole to get into.

It is getting later in the year and thus it becomes harder to arrive during day light. This morning it was just dawn, twilight, when the Rotterdam came at anchor in the Bay of Calvi.  For anchoring it is not much of a problem but the more light we have the better we can see, as you never know what floats around in the water. We were all by ourselves, the Costa ship never showed up, and that made life a lot easier.  Having the whole tender dock to ourselves and no wake or wash at the tender platform caused by passing tenders, very nice. The only unfortunate thing was the tender distance. The ship could have anchored closer, if this had been allowed. But the local authorities assign the anchorages and the local pilot ensured that the Rotterdam dropped the hook in the area clearly marked in the chart for anchoring.

The ms Rotterdam right in the middle of Calvi Anchorage.

The weather forecast had called for a sunny day but that took a while to materialize. On arrival it rained and it was not until late in the morning before the black clouds moved completely inland and into the mountains. Then we got wind back for it but at least it remained dry and sunny. Since yesterday the Mediterranean around Italy has landed in a bit of unstable weather, with our Nieuw Amsterdam reporting 90 knots of wind in certain areas in the more eastern part of the Med.  Everybody will be keeping their eyes closely on what the weather will be doing in the coming days as we are moving closer again to the Italian mainland. All the wind is supposed to blow away but then it was also not supposed to rain this morning. Unstable weather can bring surprises.

My activities were a mixed one today. Partly for the class, partly for the ship; although taking the class with me combined things.  In our emergency procedures, there is a large role for the Stairway Guides. A group of about 50 crew who stand in the staircases and direct the Guests to their Muster stations.  That does not sound very difficult and it is not as long as long as it is a drill. If it would be the real thing, the real emergency, then the situation changes. Everybody gets a bit more nervous, agitated and sometimes panicky if they have not paid attention during the Safety Briefing or because family members are somewhere else in the ship. Especially if those family members are children. As these Stairway guides are in the middle of the movement of the guests, they will be fully exposed to all the drama that might ensue. Guests on the way to the cabin to collect their lifejacket and Guests already going the other way.

Professionals estimate that about 30% of all guests on board will follow the orders over the P.A. system as soon as they are given.  50 to 60 % won’t do anything and will need a lot of prodding (especially during night or dining hours) and the remainder 5% is a question mark. They might panic, they might be apathic, and they might be consumed by fear. These people need a lot of attention from the crew and it can be difficult to handle them properly. A mother will turn into a roaring lion if “little Johnny” is missing and it needs some skill to calm such a person down again and convince them that little Johnny will be found. When the Stairway Guides (mostly Concessionaires and entertainers) come on board they have no knowledge or skills to deal with this. And thus the ship will give Crowd Control Classes to all involved to give them confidence to deal with problematic situations. Calling Security might not always work, as they might be busy already anyway.

Thus the training deals with giving them some behavioral skills to deal with this and convince them that it is ok to order guests around and if needed be  very strong and loud to get the message across. If I give these classes they might be able to accept that part of the training a bit more readily then when it comes from a 3^rd or 2^nd officer.

Calvi is a fortified town on a curved outcropping of rocks. Very strategic. They must have had a lot of problems with the “neighbours” in the past.

In the meantime the guests all went ashore, landing with the tender in the local port with the town towering over them. A pity we do not stay for the evening, there are some nice restaurants for an evening meal.  But the Rotterdam has to sail at 6 pm. to be on time in Monaco. I will explain why tomorrow.

The weather looks good. It is more stable on the French side and we should have nearly wind still weather with temperatures around 18oC or 65oF.

Today we are sailing slowly. Slowly, making about 11 knots, which will bring us to Calvi on Corsica by tomorrow morning at 07.00 hrs.  By 07.30 the hook should be down and our tender service in operation. So we are on our way from Spain to France. It seems that the islands here are nicely divided between the neighboring countries. Spain has the Balearic Islands, France has Corsica and Italy has Sardinia. On these two Mediterranean cruises we are not calling at any port in Sardinia although we have been there in the past. Very nice Island to visit.

With this port intensive cruise, it is hard to find sea days to enjoy the life on board and thus we have today whereby the ship sails slowly. Had we gone faster then we could have arrived early this evening at Calvi, but it would have been doubtful if many of our guests would have gone ashore?  Cruising is more than just visiting ports. One of the reasons why our cruises with many sea days are so popular.

With all the guests being busy on board and being kept busy, all ancillary activities of the crew go a bit on the back burner. The focus is and has to be purely on the guests.  So I had to keep my class in the class room and focus on theory and the deck department was either doing routine maintenance or preparing for the tender day tomorrow.

With a tender port that preparation consists of two parts. A. to get the big ship to the anchorage and B. to get the tenders from the big ship to and from the port. That is routine and both parts happen the day before we reach the port concerned. On the bridge in relation to navigating the big ship, there is normally at 10.15 a BRM meeting (Bridge Resource Management) during which the Bridge Team discusses how the call in the previous port went ( = lessons learned) and how it should go and is planned to go in the next port.  The lead is normally taken by the Navigation Officer who takes the team through the evolution and then everybody can have a say, look at details and ask questions. The role of the Captain is to support this meeting, make the final decisions and give everybody the benefit of having the most experience on board.

Captain Hans Mateboer explaining the finer points of a safe maneuver.

Today the departure maneuver from Mallorca was discussed and as there are more ways to come to the same result, it can be very worthwhile to discuss what would have been the optimum way of leaving port under the circumstances as they were. Then the approach to Calvi came next. This is fairly straight forward. It is an open bay and you can anchor fairly close to the harbor. So the focus here was on the safe tender operation. We will be in port with a Costa ship and thus have two flows of tenders going to and from the pier.

Part B. is the tender briefing with everybody who is involved in the actual tender process. Thus at 1 pm. there was a meeting in the crew mess. All the quartermasters and sailors A.B. who operate the tenders; Security, who mans the shore side and the Navigation officers who oversee the whole process from the bridge. Where to dock, which course to sail from the ship. How to deal with the Costa Tenders, Which speed to drive with, Local sailing boats and six pack navigators that  might get in the way:  Etc. Etc. Calvi is a simple Tender port and thus the major concern is how to deal with the tenders of the other ship as they will dock at the same pier. There are some complicated tender ports which require an officer on each tender but tomorrow the focus is on having 10 tenders (we expect that the Costa ship has six of them) safely ferry everybody from the ship to the shore and back.

The way it is supposed to look tomorrow.

The weather should be very nice,  little wind sunshine and temperatures in the mid 2o0C or low 70’s. Calvi is a nice place and the tenders park right on the promenade, so it should be good.

Mallorca is one of the two large Balearic Islands, the other one is Menorca, which are located just of the Spanish coast. They are just south of Barcelona and most ferry traffic to the islands comes from this port. As they are just to the south we almost had to sail backwards during the night in order not to arrive too early. The Navigator had figured out that going between the coast and Mallorca (West side) was 3 miles shorter than sailing down via the East side and thus we went west.  3 miles is not much (except when you have to swim it) but if you can nibble 3 miles of every distance you do, it soon adds up. And as they say “every cent is a step towards a million” so also each mile helps to reduce fuel consumption and that makes the bean keepers very happy.

Mallorca has two locations for cruise ships, the one we were assigned to, where they can take 4 cruise ships and two piers in down town where they can take four more. We were at the berth further out together with a Costa Cruise ship. Downtown was empty but I believe the coach area at this cruise terminal is larger and has a better setup, hence no downtown. I was quite happy with the arrangement as the ship was docked perpendicular on the wind and that meant that the other side of the ship, the lee side, had indeed a very good lee. That was important as it was boat drill day today. For half the crew of the ship but also for my trainee class, who after much theory and test performances were going to give their first trainings independently.

SOLAS, the code of law which regulates Safety Of Lives At Sea requires that all crew attend a full ships complement drill each month. In between they have to be trained and drilled individually with their own lifeboat or life raft. So on every ship in the world it is lifeboat day on a regular basis. On a cruise ship even more so as we have so many crew. With a port intensive cruise as this one, we can pick and choose the most favorable port. You might say you should be able to do these trainings in all sorts of ports and that is correct, but there is one issue. SOLAS only requires the lifeboats to get safely away from the ship with everybody on board. But we want our boats and rafts back so we can sail to the next port.

Lifeboat drill in the old days. This is the ss Statendam (I) around the turn of the century.

We could hold a crew drill in appalling weather and we would get the boats and rafts away as required but getting them hooked back in again and hoisted up would be very dangerous. Thus we select ports were there is no swell and if the ship is shielding us from the wind then that is even better. In our case it meant that we had to shift the crews for the lifeboats and life rafts who were having training to the starboard side because that is where the water was but those things happen as the captain does not always park where the Officer Lifesaving would like it. It leaves the guests bewildered sometimes. Had they just managed to get themselves out of everybody’ way and go to an open deck side that was not roped off and full of lifejackets; and then suddenly there is a stampede by the crew coming to that quiet side where you just escaped to.

When the boats go down, there is often a tender on standby with an officer inside, in case help is needed with coming back.

The way we train is by going through all the topics in a cycle. As a result each month all the crew gets an instruction in a topic and a full drill when the month is complete. Then in three months’ time all items pertaining to lifesaving will have been touched on.

7 Trainees were given their own life raft to train and the 8^th one had to replace the cruise director on the bridge and make all the announcements. Today’s topics were hypothermia, Man over Board and a detailed focus on the Lifejackets. As we have been extensively trainings all the tricks of the trade since they came on board, things went well. The regular officers were impressed and maybe even a little disappointed. They had to just learn it on the job and these trainee’s get 3 weeks with a facilitator to try everything out and do a number of dry runs. Well such is life, this program has only been up and running since December and we can only catch the officers who are joining the company now.

Tomorrow we are at sea, crossing part of the Mediterranean Sea to come to Calvi on Corsica. With 370 miles to cover, we can either race across and  arrive late in the morning or take it slow and arrive nice and early in the morning of the next day. We are too big to dock there, so it will be our first tender port for a long time.

Weather: little change but a bit warmer than today.